Apparatus and method for mapping a location of wireless base stations in a mobile communication system

ABSTRACT

An apparatus used in a first mobile communication system with a plurality of wireless base stations, the first mobile communication system operated by a first provider, the apparatus including an acquiring unit, a location detecting unit configured to detect a present location of the apparatus, a storing unit configured to store first service location information with respect to the first provider, and a location information providing unit configured to calculate locally a location of the plurality of wireless base stations using the detected present location of the apparatus stored in the storing unit. The location information providing unit is configured to provide a user with information based on the first service location information and the second service location information.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/715,395, filed Nov. 19, 2003 and claims benefit of priority under 35USC § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-346913, filed on Nov.29, 2002, the entire contents of which are incorporated by referenceherein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains in general to a mobile communicationterminal used in a mobile communication system having a plurality ofwireless base stations which provide contents data, and moreparticularly, to an apparatus and method for mapping a location of thewireless base stations in the mobile communication system.

2. Related Art

As the number of mobile communication users increases and the serviceshave become more versatile, various mobile communication systems havebeen provided by a plurality of providers. There is a rapidly increasingdemand for multimode mobile terminals being able to adapt to pluralwireless communication systems.

The combination of a low-data-rate information providing servicetargeted at wide cell coverage such as cellular systems and alarge-capacity information providing service targeted at spot areascovered by wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) enables bothsmall-capacity communications over a wide-bandwidth and large-capacitycommunications over a narrow-bandwidth.

A large-capacity service targeted at spot areas such as wireless LANs isa service that enables high-speed, large-capacity communications bybringing a mobile communication terminal into a certain spot area (seeJP-A-2000-106689).

In order for the user of a mobile communication terminal to utilizeservices, it is necessary for the user to obtain information in advance,by some method, about spot areas offered by wireless LAN providers. Whenthe user needs to receive services, the terminal is first brought into aspot area, where the user begins to receive the wireless LAN services.

Therefore, it has been desired for such users to generate a map showingthe location of spot areas where the wireless base stations providecontents data service effectively.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing. It is anobject of the present invention to provide a mobile communicationterminal permitting a user to easily obtain location information ofwireless base stations which provide contents data service in certainareas.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the forgoingobject is achieved an apparatus used in a mobile communication systemhaving a plurality of wireless base stations, comprising: a locationdetecting unit configured to detect a location of said apparatus; anacquiring unit configured to acquire identification information of saidwireless base stations; an storing unit configured to store the acquiredidentification information being associated with the detected locationof said apparatus; a location information providing unit configured tofigure a location of said wireless base stations using the detectedlocation of said apparatus stored in said storing unit and to providethe figured location of said wireless base stations.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the forgoingobject is achieved a method for mapping location information of awireless base station which provides contents data to a mobilecommunication terminal, comprising: acquiring identification informationof said wireless base stations; detecting a location of said terminal;storing the acquired identification information of said wireless basestations being associated with the detected location of said terminal;figuring the location of said wireless base stations based on thedetected terminal location associated with the acquired identificationinformation of said wireless base stations; and providing mapinformation indication information of the figured location of saidwireless base stations.

The mobile communication terminal constructed in this way in accordancewith the present invention includes functions of detecting positionalinformation and storing identification information about each wirelesscommunication system base station with which a connection can be madeand positional information about the mobile communication terminalcapable of connecting with the base stations. Thus, it might be easy forthe user to recognize the services available in a certain area (e.g.,the present location).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a mobile communication terminalillustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating one example of the contents of a tablein a storage unit illustrating an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a basic flow chart showing a process of mapping locationinformation of a wireless base station which provides contents data tothe mobile communication terminal.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of display illustrating an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual representation of one example of mobilecommunication system where the present invention is used.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual representation of another example of mobilecommunication system where the present invention is used.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual representation of a further example of mobilecommunication system where the present invention is used.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The mobile communication terminal according to the present invention ishereinafter described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile communication terminalthat is an embodiment of the present invention. In the presentembodiment, the mobile communication terminal normally communicates as acellular telephone with other terminals, and has wireless LAN functionsto be able to receive contents data services at wireless LAN spot areas.

The mobile communication terminal, indicated by 10, has a locationdetection unit 11 using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology, afirst wireless communication unit 12 using a narrow-bandwidth typifiedby wireless LANs (pursuant to IEEE802.11), a second wirelesscommunication unit 13 using a wide-bandwidth and typified by a cellulartelephone, a wireless base station identification (ID) informationdetection unit 14, a storage unit 15, a location information providingunit 16, and an antenna 17.

In order to realize each function, additional hardware or software maybe installed. However, it is not necessary that an independent blockrealize each function. A common CPU or the like may realize thefunctions.

The antenna 17 is mounted to each of the first wireless communicationunit 12 and second wireless communication unit 13. Furthermore, toachieve the functions of diversity or MIMO (Multiple Input MultipleOutput), each of the first wireless communication unit 12 and secondwireless communication unit 13 may be fitted with plural antennas. Theantenna 17 also serves an antenna for location detection unit 11 usingthe GPS technology.

The storage unit 15 is a memory, which stores identification informationof the base station when wireless LAN services are received using thefirst wireless communication unit 12. The storage unit 15 also storesthe location information of the mobile communication terminal in atable. One example of this table is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2,the identification information of wireless base stations (BSID) isstored associating with the location of the terminal (MS location) whichwas detected at the time of acquiring identification information of thewireless base stations. The identification information of wireless basestations and the detected location of the terminal are accumulated inthe table.

The items, which are able to store in this table are (1) identificationinformation of each base station of wireless LAN, location informationof the mobile communication terminal, and/or (2) the time when contentsdata services were received, (3) the information indicating the kinds ofservices that can be received (for example, music data, speed of thedata) (4) fee structure for the services, and so on.

The location information providing unit 16 provides the user of theterminal with information of the service area based on the informationstored in storage unit 15.

FIG. 3 is a basic flow chart showing a process of mapping a locationinformation of a wireless base station which provides contents data to amobile communication terminal.

First, mobile communication terminal 10 has access to the wireless basestation of the wireless LANs to receive contents data by using firstwireless communication unit 12. At the same instant, wireless basestation identification (ID) information detection unit 14 acquires IDinformation of the accessed wireless base station (Step S1). The IDinformation is supplied from the accessed wireless base station.

Next, location detection unit 11 detects the location (position) of theterminal 10 at the time of acquiring the ID information of the accessedwireless base station (step S2).

Next, storage unit 15 stores the acquired ID information of the accessedwireless base station and detected location of the terminal 10 which areassociated together (step S3). If the wireless base station broadcastthe kinds of service to be provided, storage unit 15 stores suchinformation. Terminal 11 has the function of clock so that storage unit15 stores the time of the acquiring of ID information of the accessedwireless base station.

Next, location information providing unit 16 figures the location of thewireless base station based on the detected terminal location stored instorage unit 15 if the user desires to display the location of the spotarea where wireless base station serves (step S4).

Location information providing unit 16 displays the location of thewireless base station, that is, the spot area where the base stationserves in the form of a map (step S5). Location information providingunit 16 shows ID information of said wireless base stations. If storageunit 15 stores the information about kinds of the service together withlocation of the terminal, unit 16 may show such information. FIG. 4,which will be mentioned after, is the example of showing the spot area,that is, the location of the wireless base station which provides thecontents data service with the kinds of service.

Location information providing unit 16 includes display unit such as aliquid crystal display that acts as the display portion of the mobilecommunication terminal.

In response to conditions entered by the user, a location where adesired service is received may be searched for and the results may bedisplayed. For instance, the location information providing unit 16refers to the storage unit 15 and presents the geographically closestlocation where wireless LAN services can be received when judged fromthe present position of the user. Furthermore, the location informationproviding unit 16 may indicate the most inexpensive wireless LAN serviceif the storage unit 15 stores fee structure information.

One example of the display is shown in FIG. 4. Location informationproviding unit 16 stores a memory which stores map information. The unit16 displays the location information by using the stored map. Thepresent location of the mobile communication terminal is displayed onthe map. Lines in FIG. 4 indicate streets. The geographically closestservice spot area (wireless base station for wireless LAN service A) andthe service area of high transfer rate (wireless base station forwireless LAN service B) are shown on the map. If a position specified bythe user has been entered, the display may be provided using theposition specified by the user as a starting point rather than thepresent position of the terminal.

Location information providing unit 16 figures the closest location ofthe wireless base station from the present location of the terminalbased on the detected terminal location associated with the acquiredidentification information of said wireless base stations stored instorage unit 15. Therefore, location information providing unit 16 candisplay the closet spot area from the result of the result of figuringas shown in FIG. 4.

In the case of FIG. 4, storage unit 15 stores the information aboutkinds of services for the base stations of wireless LAN service B as a“high speed data rate service”. So, unit 16 indicates such informationas shown in FIG. 4.

The mobile communication terminal can make reservations for utilizationof desired services by specifying the time when the user wants toreceive the services from the service provider that offers the services.On arriving at an area covered by a wireless base station that offersthe desired services, the user receives the wireless LAN services. Forexample, if the user makes reservations for the use by adding a requestfor previously taking large-capacity data about the contents into thebase station, the time in which the contents are taken in can beshortened.

The mobile communication terminal 1 finds areas in which the servicesoffered by the wireless base station can be received, based on thepresent position of this terminal that the location detection unit 11has detected and also on the positional information of the wireless basestations stored in the storage unit 15. Where areas in which thewireless services can be offered are found in advance, the data aboutthese areas may be stored in the table of storage unit 15.

When the user enters a location where the wireless services can bereceived by making use of the area information described above, thewireless communication services available near the location aredisplayed.

Location information positioning unit 16 may be fitted with aloudspeaker. For example, when the user enters a certain service area,the sound-producing unit gives a notice to this effect to the user bysound.

A system where the present invention is used next conceptually depictedin FIG. 5.

As described before, the mobile communication terminal 10 has thefollowing functions:

i) a function of detecting the location of the terminal itself (such asGPS technology),

ii) a function of detecting identification information (e.g., MAC or IPaddresses assigned to the wireless base stations) of connectable spotarea service base stations (access points (APs)), and

iii) a function of mapping the positional information of the terminalitself and the identification information of the connectable basestations.

The user's position is within a wide area N1 of a cellular phone serviceprovider N, the area having a base station NB1. Spot areas A1 (wirelessLAN base station AP1) and A2 (wireless LAN base station AP2) of awireless LAN provider A are present within the wide area N1.

The mobile communication terminal 10 obtains the information of thelocation of the terminal itself by the GPS technology. Furthermore, theuser finds the positions of the spot areas A1 and A2 close to the userby using the function ii).

The mobile communication terminal 10 collects information from thewireless LAN provider base station AP1 or AP2 via the base station NB1of the mobile phone service provider N.

The terminal may also obtain the identification information of thewireless LAN base stations AP1 and AP2 by communicating with thebackbone system of the base station NB1 of the cellular phone serviceprovider N or with the backbone system of the base station AP1 or AP2 ofthe wireless LAN provider A.

The two sets of information obtained by the functions i) and ii) areinterrelated and stored. That is, the location of the spot area wherethe wireless base stations are present is stored.

The information of the mobile communication terminal 1 and theinformation about the spot areas A1 and A2 of the wireless LAN providerA are mapped using the function iii) of the mobile communicationterminal 10. Thus, information about the available spot areas close tothe mobile communication terminal 10 is obtained.

The information about the spot areas includes the location of the mobilecommunication terminal 1, the distances to the near spot areas, thecommunication speed of the spot areas, and charges. Spot areainformation best adapted for real-time use is gained by updating thesepieces of information at all times.

Moreover, a spot area that can be regarded as best where the time takenfor the user to move into the spot area is taken into account can beselected by considering also already widespread map information andinformation about the transit time including the traffic means.

Another system where the present invention is used is conceptuallydepicted in FIG. 6. The terminal 10 further includes the followingfunction:

iv) a function of communicating mapping information between mobilecommunication terminals through an ad hoc network.

The cellular phone service provider N owns the wireless LAN provider A.A cellular phone service provider M owns the wireless LAN provider B.

The mobile communication terminal 10 belonging to the wide area N1 ofthe cellular phone service provider N is able to realize only the spotareas A1 (wireless LAN base station APa1) and A2 (wireless LAN basestation APa2) of the provider A without using an ad hoc network.

A mobile communication terminal 20 belongs to a wide area N2 of themobile phone service provider N. Spot areas A3 (wireless LAN basestation APa3) and A4 (wireless LAN base station APa4) are present withinthe wide area N2. If the mobile communication terminal 10 is connectedwith the mobile communication terminal 20 via an ad hoc network, theterminal 10 can obtain information about the spot areas A3 and A4 of theprovider A from the mobile communication terminal 20.

Similarly, a mobile communication terminal 30 belonging to a wide areaM1 of the mobile phone service provider M is able to realize theinformation about spot areas B1 (wireless LAN base station APb1) and B2(wireless LAN base station APa2) of the wireless LAN provider B. If themobile communication terminal 10 is connected with the terminal 30 by anad hoc network, the terminal 10 can obtain the information about thespot areas B1 and B2 of the provider B from the terminal 30.

Information about spot areas in a wider area can be received by makinguse of an ad hoc network in this way. Information about other cellularphone service providers can also be received by making use of an ad hocnetwork as in the present embodiment.

Further system where the present invention is used is conceptuallydepicted in FIG. 7.

Information about a routine life pattern such as commute routes andtheir time zone is entered into the mobile communication terminal. FIG.7 shows an example in which a user utilizes a wireless LAN.

The user walks from his home to the closest station ST1, where he takesa subway train. Then, he changes to a train at a transfer station ST2.Thereafter, he gets down from the transfer at a station ST3 closest tohis office. Then, he walks to his office. The spot areas available alongthis commutation interval are four, i.e., SA1 (close to the stationST1), SA2 (close to the station ST2), SA3 (close to the station ST3),and SA4 (close to the office). High-speed communication is offered inthe spot area SA4 close to the office at a lower price than in the otherthree areas SA1, SA2, and SA3. The areas SA1 and SA2 belong to the widearea N1 (base station NB1), while the areas SA3 and SA4 belong to thewide area N2 (base station NB2).

When the user actually receives wireless LAN services in the areas SA1to SA4 with the mobile communication terminal 1, the identificationinformation of the wireless base stations AP1 to AP4 in the areas SA1 toSA4 is gained. The location information of the mobile communicationterminal when the services are offered and the identificationinformation of the wireless LAN base stations are stored in the storageunit.

The user has made a contract for subscription to a newspaper via awireless LAN. The user makes detail settings using the functions of thepossessed mobile communication terminal 1 to obtain necessaryinformation. The terminal automatically downloads the newspaperinformation during commutation.

In particular, he has made such settings using the mobile communicationterminal 1 to automatically download the headings of the newspaper everymorning while the user is passing through the spot area SA1 of theclosest station ST1.

The user moves from the station ST1 to the station ST2 by subway. Duringthe movement, the user reads the headings of the newspaper and picks upinterested articles. Settings have been made to automatically downloadpieces of information about the contents of the previously picked uparticles in the spot area SA2 of the transfer station ST2, the pieces ofinformation having sizes less than normal size. The settings are suchthat large sizes of information such as information about a movingpicture are not downloaded at this time because significant time andcost are spent. Necessary contents are downloaded one after another inthe spot area 3 of the station ST3 closest to the office.

The spot area SA4 where high-speed communication can be available at lowprice is present close to the user's office. The settings are such thatinformation which is about articles picked up and which has a large sizesuch as a moving picture is automatically downloaded in this spot area.

The time taken for the user to walk from his home to the closest stationhas also been entered as information into the mobile communicationterminal 10. When he leaves his home, the mobile communication terminalcan automatically inform the spot areas SA1 to SA4 of scheduled times atwhich he will pass across them by the mobile phone and make reservationsfor receiving data download services.

In the cases described so far, routine life patterns are fixed.Utilization of a wireless LAN during movement can be scheduledefficiently by entering a destination whenever a movement is made. Wherethis is used in combination with the separate schedule functions fittedin the mobile communication terminal, downloading can be scheduledoptimally while grasping plural scheduled movements. This enables moreefficient usage.

The wireless LAN services used by the user himself are recorded andstored, together with the corresponding positional information andinformation about the wireless LAN base stations in this way. Therefore,the wireless LAN services in the region where the user himself takesactions can be mapped. Furthermore, wireless LAN services in a widerarea can be mapped by making active use of information collected byother terminals in combination.

For example, wireless LAN service points giving the shortest distancecan be shown by displaying the present position of the user andinformation indicating the wireless LAN service areas in combination.

In addition, areas where wireless LAN services conforming to the purposeare available can be displayed by searching for wireless LAN serviceconditions (e.g., charges and data transfer speed).

In the past, the user has been urged to select wireless LAN spot areaseither from “in-area” information previously obtained by separate meansor from a huge amount of general-purpose information including a largeamount of information unnecessary for the user. On the other hand, inthe present invention, it is possible to search for desired serviceareas based on service area information possessed by the mobilecommunication terminal itself. The burden imposed on the user in makingsuch a search can be alleviated greatly.

The database about the spot areas is accumulated with the user's mobilecommunication terminal based on a user-oriented concept. Thus,communicable ranges in spot areas and detailed communication informationcan be recognized while depending on the information in the databasewithin the mobile communication terminal possessed by the user ratherthan information from communications service providers.

Obviously, the present invention is not limited to the foregoingembodiments but rather various changes and modifications are possiblewithout departing from the gist of the invention. For example, acombination of services that are available in large cells with mobilephones and services that are available in small cells with wireless LANsis used. Besides, a combination of services that are available in largecells with PHS (personal handy phone system) and services available insmall cells with fixed wireless access may be used with similaradvantages.

1. An apparatus used in a first mobile communication system with aplurality of wireless base stations, the first mobile communicationsystem operated by a first provider, the apparatus comprising: firstmeans for acquiring identification information of the plurality ofwireless base stations; second means for detecting a present location ofthe apparatus on acquiring the identification information of theplurality of wireless base stations; third means for storing firstservice location information with respect to the first provider in whichthe identification information acquired by the first means is associatedwith the present location of the apparatus detected by the second means;and fourth means for calculating locally a location of the plurality ofwireless base stations using the detected present location of theapparatus stored in the third means, and to exchange locally calculatedfirst service location information and second service locationinformation with respect to a second provider through an ad hoc networkwith a second apparatus in a second mobile communication system that isoperated by the second provider, wherein the fourth means is configuredto provide a user with information based on the first service locationinformation and the second service location information.
 2. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fourth means has mapinformation, and is configured to add information of the calculatedlocation of the plurality of wireless base stations to the mapinformation.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the fourthmeans is configured to display the map information indicating thecalculated location of the plurality of wireless base stations.
 4. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mobile communication systemis a wireless local area network system being compliant with a standardof IEEE 802.11.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising a fifth means for communicating with the plurality ofwireless base stations, the communication unit being adapted to astandard of IEEE 802.11.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising a cellular telephone unit configured to perform cellularcommunication with a cellular base station being a part of a cellularnetwork.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first meansis configured for acquiring identification information of the pluralityof wireless base stations which is included in a signal transmitted fromthe plurality of wireless base stations.
 8. The apparatus according toclaim 6, wherein the first means is configured for acquiringidentification information of the plurality of wireless base stationswhich is included in a signal transmitted from the cellular basestation.